How to Measure Development

Results from a new report done by Social Watch, a NGO watchdog network, indicate that poverty will continue to dominate sub-Saharan Africa for the next 200 years unless there is renewed action towards the region, according to a Jan. 8 IPS article by David Cronin.

Different organizations use different indicators to measure global human development. For Social Watch, there is a focus on medical assistance at birth, child life expectancies, and childhood educational standards which combined is called the basic capabilities index. While the health of children provides a good indicator for the future, it does not take into account some other important factors that ensure a country's positive development. 

Adult literacy rates, for example, could indicate whether or not the education received has had a lasting impact, and is taken into account in the Human Development Index compiled by United Nations Development Program. Gender development and equality also highlight the important role women have in a country's economic, political and social development and is explored in the UNDP's Gender Related Development Index and Gender Empowerment Measure. Access to a functioning, clean water source, and proper nutrition are factors included in the Human Poverty Index. Aid, investment, migration, environmental, security and technological concerns are all included in the Commitment to Development Index compiled by the Center for Global Development. 

Social Watch is providing an important service, but perhaps the focus on their report underestimates the numerous complex issues that determine human development around the world.